Chapter 2
John noticed the there were some guests in the house the moment he walked in.
The old man David Burns was sitting in the living room with John's father Charlie Burns.
John looked at the guest, Robert Walsh, who was the "decision maker" of the Walshes.
The Burns and the Walshes had been business partners for more than a decade. The older generations of both family had always been very close.
All eyes were focused on John as soon as he walked into the door.
"Hey! Look who's back!" Robert smiled. "How's it going John? You feeling ok? " He started to ask about John's health.
Everyone in the social circle knew that this young prince of Burns family had been frail and got sick a lot since he was a child. And because of this, he was always in need of blood transfusions.
The routinely blood transfusion was one thing, his rare blood type had made things even worse.
There was a fortune teller once told that he could not live past 16 years old.
But later the Burns found him a blood bank, and saved him from the hell.
Surprisingly, not only the young prince of the family were able to attend school like many other kids, and he was insanely brilliant. He was the brightest student out of the entire city and at the age of 16, he got into one of the lvy league Universities. Now he's a third year college student.
Robert actually was more impressed by how smart John was.
His original plan was letting his daughter be married to John, but unfortunately John was not in a very good heath and he was a bit weird. Not to mention he was spoiled so hard by the family so when it came down to his marriage, the Burns would probably take awful lot of time to decided. All these together made Robert finally gave up on his plan.
Indeed, Robert was here to discuss his daughter's engagement, but the engagement was with Jason.
The Walshes and the Burns had reached consensus on the matter since long time ago.
"John is back." the house keeper saw him coming in. "I made some soup for you." said the house keeper while serving the soup.
John was always the favored one in the family. To him, family rules can always just be out of the window.
Because of John's illness, even the old Burns, who had always been harsh on the others were extra kind to him.
John took over the soup from the house keeper and slowly sipping it using a spoon while listening to the conversations among the elderlies.
"Grace had spent some time with Jason before, and I think Jason had a nice impression of her" David said to Robert. "They should just go on dates and get engaged. Grace would be a perfect fit for Jason. " said David
"Of course. Jason has always been an excellent person, and my little Gracie seems can't praise him enough whenever we talk about Jason" said Robert with a smile on his face.
"Good, I'm so glad! So how about we just setting them up on a date? Just the two of them." said David with a even bigger smile. "By the way, is Grace graduating this year? She and Jason can study together. "
After a thorough discussion with Robert, David had almost got the engagement between Jason and Grace settled.
Robert took off after a phone call.
John was sitting on the sofa and eating soup this whole time. He drank the entire bowl.
The maid was amazed after seeing the empty bowl.
John finished his soup today.
Usually they had to get down on their knees and beg him to eat more.
This young prince of the family had not only been sick since his childhood, but a very picky eater. He didn't just eat anything. Even when he only half finished his meal it was already like a huge bless from the God.
The maid had been with the Burns family for so many years, and this was the first time they saw John finished his soup.
Even David was shocked "Wow, you are having a really good appetite today."
John nodded and answered "It was so hot outside and I'm a little thirsty. The soup was good by the way. It was sweet. "
"I hardly hear you say you like anything so much" David smiled "Tell the kitchen to prepare more soup for my little boy."
"Right way sir." said the house keeper.
"Dad, you can't just spoil him like this" said Charlie with a helpless smile after he heard what David said.
Of course Charlie loves John very much, but David's love for his grandson seemed to went way overboard.
David doted on John in his early age because John wasn't in a very good health. Now that he's getting better and almost a young adult, David's spoiling needs to stop.
Charlie had mentioned this more than once, but the old Burns didn't seem to listen to him.
"Ok, okay! I know what I'm doing alright? Besides, our John is not one of those kids who doesn't have a brain." the old Burns told Charlie. "Why don't you try to set up a date for Jason and Grace? See if there are any events in the near future. I would very much like them to meet and get to know each other better."
"Are you trying to set my brother up with a girl, grandpa?" John took part in the conversation.
"Yes, Jason is old enough to get married. And this marriage thing with the Walsh family had been settled a long time ago. " said the old Burns.
"What if Jason doesn't like the girl?" said John and pretend to be casual.
David bursted into a laugh, "How could he be? Your brother knows what's important. Besides, who he wants to marry is not up to him."
"ok." John lowered his head and played around with his phone.
David thought John was associating this whole thing with himself, so he patted him on the shoulder and said "You don't need to worry, only Jason doesn't get to choose who he's married to. You can date any girl you want. As long as she has a decent family, papa would never force you into a marriage. "
John didn't say anything afterwards. He stared at his phone for a bit and then he came up with an idea.
"So if they are going to get married eventually, why don't we just invite my future sister-in-law over to the family dinner? And it would be a great chance for her to know everyone."
David immediately agreed.
David smiled and patted his thigh. "How smart is our John! Why didn't I think of this?"
"Drop by the Walshes' later and invite Grace over for our family dinner. And then we will introduce her to everyone else." David said to Charlie.
Charlie frowned for a second and asked "Isn't it a bit too soon dad?"
"How so? They are going to get married for sure. And this dinner is a good way for us to show our sincerity don't you think?" David disagreed.
"... Alright." said Charlie.
John was still on his phone with his head lowered. And finally, a smile showed up.
Get married?
Interesting.
Keep dreaming.
Chapter 3
Jason had to go back to the company after he received a phone call, and left Andrea went back to the Burns old house alone.
Andrea stood outside for a while, tried to tidy herself up before going inside.
She had always been very cautious and conscientious in front of the Burns.
She even tried to minimize her presence when entering the door.
Andrea walked into the living room with her head down while John immediately caught a glimpse of her dying to be invisible from the corner of his eyes.
John looked down at his phone then he recalled the image of her and Jason whispering and entangling outside.
She seemed to be like this all the time. In front of Jason she's acting like a fox, but when she's facing the other Burns, it's not even exaggerating to say that she was acting like rabbit.
Of course, the "others Burns" also includes John.
John lifted his glasses and moved his eyes away from Andrea.
He looked at David and said "I'm feeling a bit dizzy, grandpa."
"What's wrong? " David was tense all of the sudden when he heard John was not feeling well. "Tell the driver to get the car ready and take him to the hospital" He said to the house keeper.
The housekeeper panicked and ran out in a hurry to find the driver.
Everyone knew that John was the crown jewel of the entire Burns family. If anything happened to him, nobody could pay the price.
Andrea heard David while she was walking up stairs. She stopped unintentionally and looked towards John's direction. He was not feeling well?
Andrea had always concerned about John's well being which might be a habit from all these years.
After all, the whole reason she was brought to the Burns family in the first place was to become his personal blood donor.
David had made everything clear since day one she was here. Her existence meant nothing to the Burns unless she kept John alive.
During the first few years of her stay, she she had to donate blood to John almost every month.
"Andrea come with them!" David ordered as soon as Andrea glanced over.
Andrea had already knew it. She slightly lowered her head and walked over as he ordered.
She walked over to the sofa and bent down to John, "Let me help you."
John glance up at Andrea and raised one arm at her.
Andrea wrapped her arms around him and held him. John seemed to be really dizzy, as he staggered when he tried to get up and his arm squeezed her a little.
John glanced down and instantly felt his throat was on fire.
Damn, she really was a fox.
Andrea didn't pay any attention. She was more worried about John "Are you okay?" she asked.
He shook his head and that told Andrea nothing about how he was.
**
Half an hour later,John was done with all the medical check-ups in the hospital.
John had been going to the same doctor all these years, and the doctor knew about John's physical condition like the back of his hand.
After all the routine check ups, they didn't find anything wrong with him.
“It could be the stress from his school work, and he was not getting enough sleep which caused the dizziness." said the doctor, "It also could be the heatstroke. Not to mention it's been hot outside so just keep him away from getting too much heat. "
"oh good, thank god he's ok." both David and Charlie were relieved.
"But I'd still like to keep him here a few days." said David and was still worried, "John, we're going to keep you here for a couple of days. I'll send a nanny here to take care of you."
"Oh you don't have to do that grandpa." John glanced at Andrea and said, "Just let her stay."
Chapter 4
"That'll work." David did everything as John said, and he didn't think that there was anything wrong with Andrea taking care of him. After all, she was like a maid to Burns family anyways.
David said to Andrea, "Andrea, I need you to take a few days off work and stay in the hospital to look after John."
Andrea actually would rather go to work, but she couldn't say it out loud.
"Ok, I'm on it." She nodded her head.
**
Just one word from the old Mr. Burns, Andrea was assigned to take care of John in the hospital.
After all the Burns left, there was just Andrea and John in the room.
Growing up, John had been a bit eccentric. Although Andrea was his regular blood donor, the two of them actually....didn't really know each other that well.
At least Andrea thought so.
John basically was icy to everyone, and smiled at her.
Andrea felt that John probably didn't even take her seriously.
And she's not the kind of person that force herself to smile at others.
So she hardly ever talk to John.
Normally, when there were just the two of them it would be silent.
Andrea quietly sat on the sofa without saying a word.
It was deadly quiet.
Moment later, "Can you give me a glass of water?" John spoke to her out of the blue.
"Sure Mr. Burns." Andrea suddenly regained her conscious and stood up in a hurry. "On the rocks?"
Andrea never once called John by his first name. Although she was eight years older than him, she had always called him "Mr. Burns" just like the rest of the servants in Burns family.
But she never so politely called Jason.
She had always called Jason by his first name. She's a little wild cat when they were together.
The comparison was obvious.
John recalled her soft voice when Andrea was talking to Jason. His eyes were staring straight at her lips.
What a waste of those lips if they were not doing anything else.
"Mr. Burns?" Andrea waited in silent for a long time. "Excuse me?" She asked again.
John took his glasses off randomly, and said, "Just water."
Andrea quickly poured a glass of water from the fountain and passed over to John.
John took two sips of the water and then handed the glass back to Andrea.
Andrea step up to take over the glass when John's hand trembled all of the sudden and spilled the rest all on her.
Before even realizing, she was already drenched in the cold water.
So cold that she almost cursed.
"I can't see clearly without my glasses." John carelessly explained what just happened.
Andrea actually never had a good temper, but she couldn't be angry with John. ”It's alright Mr. Burns." Andrea trying to hold it back.
"Alright then, you'd better change your cloth and then I need you to order dinner." said John. "I want steak."
"OK, got it." Said Andrea.
Since they had to stay in the hospital, the servant from home had already brought them fresh clothes.
Andrea went to get changed in the bathroom. She left the wet blouse hanging on the side and went out to order dinner for John.
John put on his glasses and went into the bathroom after she left.
He saw the blouse that Andrea had just took off.
That slightly wrinkled blouse still had a trace of the warm scent from her body. John was staring at it with his head tilted for a long time, and those picturesque images that appeared in his dreams came to his mind.